New Job...New Stories

Here's a shot of some of my new kitchen co workers...TOTALLY kidding, just a cheesy attempt at being funny .

Every restaurant I have worked in since the nineties (only two) have had a back of the house staff of mainly Latinos. I've met a couple of lazy ones but for the most part they work their butts off and never talk back. Well, maybe they talk back to each other but it is in such rapid fire Spanish that you miss everything except the curse words.

My new store is no exception.

The head cooks are all American...and no dummies by any means. One is the owner's son, one is a former manager of mine at my last store and of course the owner is the head chef.

They are backed up by others...some being Latinos. Some are cooks and some are dishwashers or bus boys.

They mostly work on the end of the line putting out salads appetizers or pizzas. There is a sweet African American girl called "Peaches" that makes the pizzas, appetizers and salads and has helped me out more times than I can count. There is a crazy nutty cook called Freddie that is so outrageous it's not even funny and another cook called Nacho that is one of the sweetest guys I've ever met. There is a Latino dishwasher named Anna who has platinum blonde hair and always has her face all fixed up and even has lipstick on every time I see her. There is an older quiet Latino dishwasher named Eva who just looks the part, bless her heart. No make up no frills just a sad face and an extremely quiet demeanor. One of the hostesses is another African American named CeCe...I couldn't pronounce her full name on a bet.

All in all I am back into the eclectic world of the restaurant industry.

The other night I had two tables of ten going at once and was pretty busy...being new it doesn't take much for me to get busy.

One of my tables wanted to change from a mixed green salad to a Caesar so I had to go back to ask Peaches for another Caesar. By mistake I called out "Hey, CeCe, I need another Caesar salad, please." She cut her eyes towards another cook and said "I know she didn't just call me CeCe." I quickly grimaced and said "I am SO sorry...I'm just busy and got mixed up."

To play it off I said "You know you all look alike to me." She laughed...knowing I was kidding. I am one of the most liberal and racially unbiased people alive.

Well they all started making fun of me getting Peaches' name wrong. Anna the dishwasher was laughing her head off and she and Nacho were going on and on about it. Next time through the kitchen and they were still cackling at me so I looked back at Nacho and said "What are YOU laughing at, Freddie?"

Oh that got everyone laughing EXCEPT Nacho!

My next trip into the dish room with a pile of dishes on my arm I said to Anna "I'm right behind you with dishes, Eva." Now everyone was laughing EXCEPT Anna!

She turned around to look at me and said "OHH no you dinn!"

We all laugh about that every time I work now and are constantly joking with each other. I respect each and every one of them and speak to and inquire how their day is going ... in return they are all nice as can be to me and helpful in any way they can be.

It's a really great group of people I work with and they all seem to genuinely like me. What a relief after my last stint as a server.

When I left work today Anna cheerfully said "See you LAYtor, CeCe." I just laughed.

Dang it feels good to laugh again and know I can still make people laugh as well.

I am loving my new home and my new found family.

Til next time...ALGODON